auschizm

Exploring the overlap between being schizo spec and autistic. Everyone is welcome to follow. Run by Kat of lifeafterpsychiatry

[auschizm]

Asks I'm comfortable answering:

Specific questions about autism and/or being schizo spec

Is X an auschizm thing?/Do other auschiztic people experience X?

Vents not expecting solutions

Can you elaborate on/explain X

General commentary on my content/posts/blog

What's your opinion on X?

Requests for validation, support and encouragement

Asks I'm not comfortable answering:

Requests for in depth academic/scientific resources

Requests for elaborate in depth explanations of either diagnosis

Being asked to talk people out of self harm/suicide/homicide

Being asked to diagnose people

Being asked to take on the role of a psychiatric professional in any capacity

Which includes being asked how to successfully cope with/recover from something

Asks not at all related to either the autism spectrum or the schizo spectrum in any capacity (those will usually be deleted)

[sharkwithpaws]

i think something people dont get about psychosis is a psychotic episode doesnt feel like youre going insane or anything adjacent to that. it more so feels like youre being given insight to something you werent supposed to. this is why its extremely hard to realize that you are in psychosis.

[cider84]

I LOVE ART BY SCHIZOPHRENIC PEOPLE!!! if you are a schizophrenic creative please never stop making art!!! express yourself forever, even if it's weird or eccentric or something people wouldn't understand it or it's not even good, you should make it. & you should share it if you feel so inclined. PLEASE!!!!!

write that poem or that short story or that book, make that move or short film or tv show, finish that painting or drawing or digital art piece or sculpture, compose that song or album or symphony, program that video game or neat little website, design that cool outfit or knit/crochet/sew those clothes i'm so serious!!!

the world needs more art always, especially now, & your art holds so much value regardless of how niche or "insignificant" it is. your view of the world deserves to exist & you are allowed to share it, no matter what people tell you, you deserve to take up space & express even the stranger parts of who you are because it is part of who you are!!! please make schizophrenic art forever

[wheelie-sick]

the minute someone is noticeably psychotic people's social skills fly out the window because they don't see psychotic people as people

"what do I do if I shouldn't call 911?"

well "I'm sorry I'm in a rush" is a pretty good option or "I can't talk right now, sorry" and then move on.

psychotic people, ultimately, are people. they are just as human as you are and the vast vast vast majority of the time they're not interested in hurting you.

when you're approached by a psychotic person ranting about delusions or hallucinations (and possibly speaking with disorganized speech) they are just looking for human connection, that's all. they might not have many people around to talk to and it gets lonely. when someone talks to you about a secret society of mind readers out to kill them they are just trying to connect with people and sometimes process the fear they're experiencing (because a secret society of mind readers out to kill you is rather scary!)

things like mania can also make you very talkative and very social.

someone coming up to you to talk about being the second coming of Jesus isn't trying to hurt you. they just want to talk. if you have time then have a conversation, most of the time you don't even need to say much. you can politely nod and go "wow that's crazy" and "that's so scary" and it might be one of the kindest things someone does for them that day. if you don't have time just say you're in a rush and leave.

it's that simple

[wheelie-sick]

the concept of psychosis as an everyday experience is very foreign to most people

for the average apsychotic (not psychotic) person psychosis would be a brand new experience. psychosis for an apsychotic person can be very concerning.

they have a hard time seeing that for some people psychosis is not new or out of the ordinary. psychosis is their constant life experience that rarely (or never) quits. whether that experience is severely disabling or just a background quirk of life countless people experience psychosis that is not an acute emergency.

[wheelie-sick]

sometimes people experiencing psychosis and/or mania will come up to you on the street and talk in confusing or upsetting ways. your job is to either have a regular human-to-human conversation with that person or politely leave. your job is not to call 911. do not call 911. you might kill that person if you call 911.

[wheelie-sick]

I don't even have the energy to screenshot and respond to your tags- what the actual fuck is wrong with you? "the cops are scared and rightfully so" "mental health calls are the scariest for cops" OH so this isn't about the safety of psychotic & manic people this is about piggy feelings?

and no, actually, this is not USA specific and no, actually, people from other countries should not ignore this post. police violence and sanism weren't invented in the US and they are certainly not unique to here. if you (or anyone) thinks that this bullshit doesn't happen elsewhere then you are not listening.

[strix-returns]

Someome having an episode is a medical emergency, not a crime in progress; it should be handled by medical personnel and not cops.

[wheelie-sick]

some of us live in constant psychosis or have long term or frequent manic episodes. medical emergencies are acute problems, not chronic baseline states. the majority of people with a psychotic disorder experience psychosis regularly. for most psychotic people a psychotic episode is not a medical emergency it is an average Tuesday.

don't call an ambulance on someone who does not want one.

a psychotic episode is not inherently an emergency

[schizopositivity]

Happy pride to everyone who is schizo-spec/psychotic and lgbtqia+ !!!

We are real. Our mental illness doesn't invalidate our identity. Our identities aren't the reason we are mentally ill.

We are a crucial part of both communities and we are a tough ass group of people.

[labmousegirl]

one of the things that makes autism a disability (and why some of us choose to label it as such rather than an “alternate neurotype”) is the stress. 

part of autism is just being incredibly stressed. overstimulation? stress. holding a conversation? stress. something happening to our schedule? stress. people talk about how often autism is recognized and diagnosed via our stress responses (like meltdowns) because it is just so common to see autistic people stressed because of lack of accommodations to how our brains work.

and this matters because stress kills. stress causes a lot of health issues, or it can trigger pre-existing ones by making certain chronic conditions flare up. i once had a psychiatrist very unhelpfully tell me i “just need to manage my stress” when the stress i was describing was things i could not avoid in neurotypical society and can’t “just get over”. i can do “self care” all i like but i cannot at the very base level change the way my brain inputs information and reacts accordingly.

[roach-works]

i only learned this year that loud noises aren’t physically painful for other people. i have lived 34 years in a world in which my friends and family regularly physically hurt me at random just by shouting, and i thought everyone else just thought i was kind of a wimp for not dealing with the pain as well as they did.

like. loud noises physically hurt. it’s like a static shock from my ears to my spine that doesn’t stop until the volume goes back down. i thought we all agreed that ‘that’s too loud!’ and covering our ears meant ‘ouch!’. turns out i’ve been dealing with a stressor almost no one else has, my whole life, alone.

autistic people have to keep functioning through debilitating levels of stress that no one else in their life acknowledges or helps them with. it’s no wonder that their most visible ‘tells’ are breakdowns. 

[eptck]

you have to be kinder to people with memory issues.

you have to be kinder to people who are slow processors.

you have to be kinder to people who don't understand your jokes.

you have to be kinder to people who forget important dates.

you have to be kinder to people with cognitive decline.

you have to be kinder to people who were always this way, too.

you have to be kind. you have to be kind.

[crippled-peeper]

“Psychotic people aren’t homeless in the streets or psych wards!!! some of us are playing video games” some psychotic people ARE homeless in the streets and in psych wards and they don’t deserve to fucking die for it or be forgotten or swept aside because they aren’t a convenient poster child for your symptoms RAAAAHHH

[autiebiographical]

I hate the term 'differently abled'. The only reason it exists is because the word disabled makes abled people uncomfortable.

[vamptits]

practicing radical acceptance about the fact that I'm always gonna be weird and awkward and a little difficult to be around. it's okayyyy to be weird as hell

[questionable-method]

no but im so tired of how self-deprecation is always more accepted than self-advocacy. if i say i can't drive because im autistic i get questioned on how exactly that works and given a million suggestions on how to do it anyway and i look like im trying to be special so it's easier to just say im a loser. yeah i don't drive because im kind of a loser lmao. oh well. and people say lmao back and we move on. at worst they say "oh im sure you'll figure it out haha." but no interrogation!! being a loser is more respectable than being disabled. being a loser is something that doesn't make other people feel uncomfortable about their own biases. so no, no im not disabled. i don't struggle to keep friends and do the laundry and make quick trivial decisions and clean my room and brush my teeth because im autistic. it's because im a loser. it's my fault. it is what it is. at least im funny now. do you think im funny? please think im funny

[wheelie-sick]

so much autism "advice" boils down to "just spend more time socializing and you'll catch on to the rules :)" as if one of the main points of autism is that you can't "just catch on"

[girlcalledwhatsername]

Literally no one is even forcing you at gunpoint to sit and observe and nod along with everyone's psychoses but just how hard is it to mind your business and not be an ass to psychotics?

[missstrogen]

Stop being sanist. Some of us have beliefs that are wierd and it costs you nothing to be normal about that instead of being a sanist asshole.

[missstrogen]

If you see someone believing in prophetic dreams, strange gods or whatever else is not "normal and acceptable", you can simply move on. It costs nothing to not be an asshole and not point and laugh at the crazy person or whatever

[witchofanguish]

There's a somewhat-unstated division in social progressive circles that goes "being socially inept for autism reasons is fine, but being socially inept for regular reasons is bad and mockable." And then in practice everyone assumes it's for regular reasons when it comes up